Robert Ryan

Professor of Landscape Architecture
University of Massachusetts Amherst

Research and Background

Professor Robert Ryan's research and professional work focuses on designing and planning greenways and green infrastructure systems that provide multiple benefits for local residents. These projects have been conducted at the multiple-scales across the Commonwealth of Massachusetts in over 25 towns and cities. He is the co-organizer of the Fábos Conference on Landscape and Greenway Planning,which is an international conference held every three years to highlight innovation greenway planning from around the world. His work also focuses on public attitudes toward sustainable planning and design solutions, such as green infrastructure. He is currently working on a UMass Center for Agriculture project to study local residents' attitudes toward landscape water conservation and stormwater management practices in the Ipswich River Watershed north of Boston. This project is an offshoot of an NSF funded study with Dr. Paige Warren (Umass Eco Dept.) and others entitled the Boston Metropolitan Area Urban Long-term Research Project (ULTRA) to explore the relationship between socio-economic forces and urban ecosystem patterns and processes across a metropolitan region www.umass.edu/urbaneco. He is the Director of the Center for Resilient Metro-Regions (https://www.umass.edu/larp/center/center-resilient-metro-regions-crm), which "provides planning and applied research toward making communities more economically, socially, and environmentally resilient and vibrant." He is just completing an NSF-Pathways grant that imbeds research on urban planning, ecology, and design into an interactive exhibit called "City Science" at the EcoTarium Museum in Worcester for children and their parents. His work also includes the study of place attachment as a mechanism to promote increased stewardship of both public and private spaces.